Private Collection, United Kingdom
Jamieson was born in Glasgow and studied at Glasgow School of Art before winning a scholarship to study in Paris. It was there, in 1898, that he came into contact with the work of the French Impressionists, whose bravura brushwork and preoccupation with the effects of light and atmosphere were to be his chief painterly concerns for the remainder of his life. From them he learnt the ‘wet-in-wet’ technique of the ‘plein-air’ painters, which was to define his painting style for the rest of his career. The choppy and mood-inducing effects of this technique can clearly be seen in the simple beauty of this work, Sunset Versailles.
While in Paris Jamieson met the painter Gertrude (Biddy) Macdonald. They were married in 1907 and returned to live in Fitzrovia, London. By 1910 Jamieson was recognised as a key member of the Impressionist group, and was named as one of the best in ‘Studio’ magazine. He held a solo exhibition at the Carfax Gallery in 1912, and later at the ROI (Royal Institute of Oil painters) and at the RA. He also showed in Europe and is now represented in public collections including the Tate Gallery and the Louvre.
Jamieson enjoyed great success until 1914 when he enlisted in Kitchener’s “New Army” as a volunteer in, and in 1915 was commissioned into the 10th Bn York & Lancashire Regiment. He served throughout the Great War, taking part in the bloody battles of Loos, the Somme and Arras from 1915-18. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in January 1918 and was demobilised in 1919, at the age of 45. The National Army Museum has a painting by 2/Lt Jamieson of Field Marshal Lord Kitchener inspecting the 10th Battalion at their tented training camp at Halton, Buckinghamshire, in 1915. After the war, he settled with Biddy in the village of Weston Turville in the Vale of Aylesbury, a few miles from his old camp. He continued to paint and exhibit while living there, receiving considerable acclaim for much of his work.